EQ6R-Pro disaster

Is there a cable that could snag?

-Mark

While I can’t see why it happened, my best guess is a cable snag maybe. Really can't comprehend any other reason why it would be like that 2.5 hours post meridian. Getting out of sync like that could certainly throw off the park position, but again, I still can’t comprehend how it would end up against the tripod leg.

The nice thing about an EQ6 though is the fact the clutches will slip. You shouldn’t have any damage. I wouldn’t use the term disaster. It’ll be fine.

Was the scope indicating parked in the morning? Or was it still tracking?

V · Sep 23, 2025, 01:48 AM

Hi. I’ve had this happen to me every other night. it has to do with the star detection threshold being too high, it will relock on dither onto something it thinks is the star but is actually a hot pixel, it’ll keep giving input but wont have any “error” to it. Very common on OAG guided systems and small refractors.

ASIAIR offers to build a dark library for the guiding camera. I guess this is to identify hot pixels in order not to get this kind of error?

I’m a little unclear on what happened. Which side of the tripod was the telescope butting up against, east or west? Did you visually verify that the meridian flip actually took place? You can set slew limits in the Synscan software using your handset and the AsiAir will respect them.

One issue I have noticed with the ASI Air is that if you are setting up a session on a target close to the meridian, and the target moves past the meridian flip point before you actually start your autorun acquisition, the software will not perform a meridian flip. You have to be sure you are on the correct side of the RA axis when you start the acquisition.

I have experienced a couple of fairly bad “telescope hits tripod” events with my EQ6R, one of which lasted for many hours. The mount still works fine.

Just looking at your first graph, and noting that the telescope had gone into the tripod, would suggest to me that you haven’t got any mount limits set & that the mount didn’t perform a meridian flip. Is that a possibility?

The rate that the RA drifts off is of the order of sidereal rate - that doesn’t suggest clutch slippage to me.

If it was a USB issue which stopped the mount from responding to tracking commands, then I think you’d expect to see lots of other issues as well rather than just RA.

Thanks so much everyone for the replies. Sorry for the delay in responding, I was away since I posted.
So to address some of the questions people have put..

1. Position of the Scope when I found it

   The scope was on the west side of the mount with the counterweights angled upwards on the east side.

2. Meridian Flip

   The Flip was successful. No issues with it and the subs confirm by their orientation that it occurred. Imaging proceeded for around 2 hours or so after the flip.

3. ASIAIR firmware

   I had been operating for months without upgrading anything as I did not want any update but a bug a few nights ago made me think an update might solve it. Turns out it was a worldwide ZWO server issue but now I have the new firmware unfortunately.

4. The plan itself

   The plan was a mosaic of M31 in 3 panels oriented lengthways. Panel 1 was mostly completed with a few subs remaining after the flip. Panel 2 got through 45 frames of 65 before the issues began. The plan was set to park the scope in the home position upon completion of the plan(I always do this)

5. Position of scope according to the software

   Looking at the ASIAIR log i can see that it ‘successfully’ parked the scope in the home position.

6. Cables

   I am using the cables supplied with the mount with no issues up to now.
   The usb cable had come partially disconnected by the time it hit the mount though.

   However, I always manually rotate the scope in both axes before turning on anything to ensure that cables are clear and won’t catch on anything. Obviously I didn’t check would they snag if the scope went way past horizontal though

7. Limits

   I do not have limits set on the mount. ASIAIR doesn’t have that capability but perhaps I can do it now through the hand controller?

8. Performance on the previous night.

   It is curious to me that RA exhibited similar though less severe behaviour on the previous night, also roughly around the same time of night, on the same target and therefore roughly in the same mount position

9. Performance since the incident

   Last night I had some clear skies. Though the mount was not moved, the PA was shockingly off, something that never happens when I leave the mount out overnight and image the next night. I had issues centering to my target at first until I reset everything and started from scratch.
   Guiding was 0.55 RMS for the night, though I set the plan to finish before 3am to avoid the scope approaching the bermuda triangle zone I referenced above.

I hope I’m not missing anything here. I’m happy that the mount is still working and that the Newt was not damaged but very worried about imaging fully through the night now.
Regards
John

John Walsh · Sep 23, 2025, 01:34 PM

Thanks so much everyone for the replies. Sorry for the delay in responding, I was away since I posted.
So to address some of the questions people have put..

1. Position of the Scope when I found it

   The scope was on the west side of the mount with the counterweights angled upwards on the east side.

2. Meridian Flip

   The Flip was successful. No issues with it and the subs confirm by their orientation that it occurred. Imaging proceeded for around 2 hours or so after the flip.

3. ASIAIR firmware

   I had been operating for months without upgrading anything as I did not want any update but a bug a few nights ago made me think an update might solve it. Turns out it was a worldwide ZWO server issue but now I have the new firmware unfortunately.

4. The plan itself

   The plan was a mosaic of M31 in 3 panels oriented lengthways. Panel 1 was mostly completed with a few subs remaining after the flip. Panel 2 got through 45 frames of 65 before the issues began. The plan was set to park the scope in the home position upon completion of the plan(I always do this)

5. Position of scope according to the software

   Looking at the ASIAIR log i can see that it ‘successfully’ parked the scope in the home position.

6. Cables

   I am using the cables supplied with the mount with no issues up to now.
   The usb cable had come partially disconnected by the time it hit the mount though.

   However, I always manually rotate the scope in both axes before turning on anything to ensure that cables are clear and won’t catch on anything. Obviously I didn’t check would they snag if the scope went way past horizontal though

7. Limits

   I do not have limits set on the mount. ASIAIR doesn’t have that capability but perhaps I can do it now through the hand controller?

8. Performance on the previous night.

   It is curious to me that RA exhibited similar though less severe behaviour on the previous night, also roughly around the same time of night, on the same target and therefore roughly in the same mount position

9. Performance since the incident

   Last night I had some clear skies. Though the mount was not moved, the PA was shockingly off, something that never happens when I leave the mount out overnight and image the next night. I had issues centering to my target at first until I reset everything and started from scratch.
   Guiding was 0.55 RMS for the night, though I set the plan to finish before 3am to avoid the scope approaching the bermuda triangle zone I referenced above.

I hope I’m not missing anything here. I’m happy that the mount is still working and that the Newt was not damaged but very worried about imaging fully through the night now.
Regards
John

One other thought that occurred to me. Is it possible that your mount zero position was incorrectly set, and that the sequence finished and that mount went to the “wrong” zero point after completing the sequence?

Hard to see how polar alignment being off would be related to the moving parts or electronics of your mount as this is set entirely by the polar alignment knobs. Maybe your tripod settled in the grass or an animal brushed it? I set up in the grass and push my tripod down hard before putting the mount on. Sometimes my PA is ok 24 hours later and sometimes it is not.

yes, you can set slew limits on the EQ6R using the handset. You should set it allowing the mount to go slightly past the point at which the meridian flip occurs. Otherwise I don’t think the ASIAIR will do the flip and your mount will be stuck at the slew limit all night.

Lastly, if you are experiencing multiple, apparently unrelated problems and they are consistent, consider the possibility of a bad mother board. I’ve had my EQ6R for about 7 years now, and have replaced the board twice. I’m currently running the mount off battery only in the belief that these failures are power spike related.

Martins Vilcins · Sep 23, 2025, 01:47 PM

Any chance your scope is top heavy, not ballanced well?

Thanks Martin. Forgot to mention that initially. No its pretty well balanced, if anything, the slightest bit heavy on the counterweight end.

John Tucker · Sep 23, 2025, 02:01 PM

Maybe your tripod settled in the grass

Thanks John. It is on a very solid concrete patio so no settling possible.
I would well believe that a lost ‘home’ position would lead to the bad position alright. Why the home position would be lost though is a mystery as I had sent the mount home on a number of occasions before going to bed( after PA, after a test imaging run etc),.

I am going to look into setting these limits now for sure thanks.

Was it difficult to replace the board? Do you need to be very comfortable with electronic work?

John Walsh · Sep 23, 2025, 02:19 PM

Martins Vilcins · Sep 23, 2025, 01:47 PM

Any chance your scope is top heavy, not ballanced well?

Thanks Martin. Forgot to mention that initially. No its pretty well balanced, if anything, the slightest bit heavy on the counterweight end.

John Tucker · Sep 23, 2025, 02:01 PM

Maybe your tripod settled in the grass

Thanks John. It is on a very solid concrete patio so no settling possible.
I would well believe that a lost ‘home’ position would lead to the bad position alright. Why the home position would be lost though is a mystery as I had sent the mount home on a number of occasions before going to bed( after PA, after a test imaging run etc),.

I am going to look into setting these limits now for sure thanks.

Was it difficult to replace the board? Do you need to be very comfortable with electronic work?

OH, and TAKE SOME PICTURES in ALL CAPS. It is not obvious how to connect the wires to the new board unless you have the pictures of how they were connected to the old.

V · Sep 23, 2025, 08:16 PM

My only non-software thought about this is that the clutch on my EQ6R has a tendancy to slightly self-loosen through the night which leads to a complete RA tracking faliure, I have to tighten it back down as the mount body settles around 4-5 hours into a night. Perhaps you’re experiencing the same thing?

Hmm, this is interesting, thanks very much. It certainly was very easy to move the RA without releasing the clutch when I found it in the morning. When you say tracking failure, how does this manifest itself?